Unbreakable
by Constance O'Burn
Summary: When Amber Linklater moves back to her hometown, she meets new friends and life seems to be going fine until weird things begin to happen that Amber ust fine the answers to. PLEASE DON'T COPY THIS
1. Leaving

_**1. LEAVING**_

If I had any idea of the direction in which my life would turn, I probably would not have moved away from California.

However, if I had not gone, that would have prevented me from meeting _him._

But that will all come later.

I would normally go on and tell you about my life so far, who I was, how old I was, what I looked like, but that's not important, and you will soon have the answers to such basic questions.

So to satisfy your curiousity, here is a brief outline of my young life so far.

I was born in 1990 (making me seventeen this year, as it is 2007) to Christine Mathers and Robert Linklater in Keys, Kansas.

My Mom died when I was only two, and my Dad found it too difficult and expensive to raise me, so I was sent to live with my Great Aunt Janiece Mathers and my twenty year old cousin Destry in California until my Dad thought he was fit to raise me.

The years went by, and my Dad visited me every month, then every holidays, until he only visited at Christmas.

I guess he sensed that I really loved it in California, and did not have the heart to make me leave the place I loved.

I had visited Keys a few times, and I had a couple of friends down there, but I was not to fond of the small farming community.

There was not anything wrong with it, it's just I wasnt that into hicks and rednecks and I didn't look so hot in a flanelette shirt.

So I had lived in California for almost fifteen years now, and I was about to leave.

My Aunt Janiece was fifty five when I moved in, so she was now seventy.

I love her very much, so when she had an unexpected heart attack about two months ago I decided it was time I went home and left her in peace for her Golden Years.

She was hugely objective to me leaving, but secretly we both knew that it was for the best.

Aunt Janiece would be lonely, for Destry moved to Amsterdam around five years ago, but she would be in peace.

I was going to miss Saints Beach, mostly my friends, school, baseball team, basketball team, rugby team, dance class, athletics team and mainly...the _gym_.

But we cant alway get what we want, or so I tried to assure myself.

I was slightly excited about moving to Keys, but scared at the same time, not knowing what adventures were waiting for me in the blistering hot sun...

"Is that the lot?" Dad asked, after loading in my seventh bag of sports gear and trophies into the back of his new Jeep. I put my hands on my hips and pursed my lips, frowning.

"Course not Dad, there's still four bags of clothes and stuff in my room." I informed him. He groaned and trudged back inside, his shoulders slouched.

Aunt Janiece came out, and looked at me with an angry face.

"I really don't understand why you have to leave, Amber, I'm perfectly fine." she lied, struggling to hobble down the stairs. I rushed by her side to help her, but she waved me off.

"You knew I had to go someday, aunt, just consider yourself lucky that you got to have me for fourteen years." I commented rather confidently, which was just my style.

"Lucky me." she added, her frown turning into tears.

I wrapped my arms around her shoulder and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

"I love you _so_ much aunt Janiece, and I will be forever grateful to you for taking care of me for all these years. But it's time I went home to Dad, because I think we should get some father-daughter time before I finish school and go to college. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine!" I assured her, before skipping back towards the car to unload the contents of my pockets, my phone, ipod and wallet, onto the dashboard.

I spun around to face the house that I had grown up in.

It was a small light blue cottage with white trimmings and a sun baked lawn, but I loved it.

I knew I would miss all this, the beach, friends, sports, my aunt, but it was time to move on into the inevitable.

I sighed and smiled, remembering all the good, the bad and the ugly memories of the past fourteen years of my life. My attention then turned to my diary, and the Chapter within it.

The first chapter was called 'Daddy's Girl', which was about me in the first two years of my life.

This chapter, which was coming to a close, was going to be called 'The Blue Cottage' Chapter.

I didnt know what this knew chapter would be called, and it will remain unnamed until it was over.

I just hoped it wouldnt be a bad part of my life, but then again, I had been to blessed to far, and was likely to run into some bad luck soon, to balance out everything.

I just hoped that what I was going to face would be bearable.

I felt my heart flutter as Dad re-entered the driveway with the remaining four bag in his arms, which he tossed carelessly into the back of the Jeep.

This was it.

I was leaving.


	2. Arrived

_**Hi! I hope you like the story so far. I was planning on only uploading one chapter each night but chapter one was so short and I couldn't help myself.**_

_**Plse Review!**_

_**2. ARRIVED**_

After Aunt Janiece's half an hour long goodbye and listening to Dad saying "We need to go" a thousand times, we finally left Saints Beach, and began the tiring journey to Kansas.

Dad was silent most of the time, yet that was because I was non-stop talking about everything he had missed since the last time I had seen him, which was two years ago.

I didnt feel rude shooting my mouth off, because Dad had ordered me to inform him of what was going on in my life everytime that I had seen him since I was ten. So I was basically _reporting _to him, giving him all the goss and what not.

I knew he didnt really care about half of it, like how we almost set Gina Downey's hair on fire when we were straightening it, but I guess he felt guilty for not being in my life, and knowing that I _loved _to talk, thought this was a good way to make up for not being there.

It took me three hours to get what I had to say out of my talkative mouth, and when was done, I asked my routine question.

"So what's been up with you?" I asked, not entirely curious or interested.

He took a breath, so I knew something was up. Now I _was _curious.

"Well, I got a promotion." he began. My face lit up, I loved it when good things happened to him, he had had a hard life so far.

"That's awesome," I chirped, feeling like such a teenager. "so what are you doing now?" I asked eagerly, changing my position so I faced towards him more.  
He seemed overly pleased and a tad surprised by my reaction, and realized it was his turn to let the words run wild.

"Well," he started. "you know how I used to be Manager of the Linklater Farm?"

"Yes." I lied, I had thought he was just Head Rancher or something, not Manager.

My Dad's family, the Linklater's, owned a big cattle ranch outside of town, and employed thirty something workers.

Everyone in Keys County, wheat, fruit, cattle, pig and other sought's of farmers all sold their supplies to a large company called 'The United Farmers Distrubution Company', but we just called it The Company, who then distrubuted all the goods where they needed to go.

Anyway, they had a office at Keys, as Keys County was mainly a farming area where all the farmers sold their goods to The Company.

"Just the other week I was approached by The Company and they wanted me to be the Keys County Manager! And of course I said yes, so your Uncle Harry took over the Ranch, and your cousin Jesse is Head Rancher now. But in my opinion, he's way too young, but then again I was Head Rancher when _I _was eighteen..." he said, starting to get off track.

"Well that's great Dad, I'm proud of you." I quickly stated, before he could go any further.

He smiled warmly, he loved someone being proud of him, seeings though he's parents were both dead and the love of his life, my Mom, had died as well.

"Your Mom would be too." he whispered to himself, but I heard it.

"She would?" I asked eagerly, not knowing when the rarely talked subject about my Mom was going to be brought up again.

He looked out the window for a moment, then back to me.

"What wife wouldnt be proud of a husband who got a promotion?" he explained, a sad look on his face.

I nodded slowly, deep in thought.

Although my parents had never actually tied the knot, he always referred to her as 'my wife', which strangely made me uncomfortable.

I knew he had never got over my Mom, and he had lived alone in the same house ever since, which probably only made it more painful.

I had no pictures of my Mom, but whenever I had visited Keys, random strangers would tell me how much I looked like her.

It was probably true though, as I looked nothing like my black haired, green eyed, scruffing looking father.

_I _had dark brown eyes and honey colored hair. My hair was straight, like if straight hair could kill the population of the world would be reduced to zero straight, and was parted in the middle.

However, I always wore it up in a high pony tail for sport reasons and to avoid being called a hippy, as my hair almost reached my waist.

The only thing I had in common with my father was that I was really tall.

I was the third tallest girl in my grade back at Saints Beach High, which had over two hundred students in Grade 10, so I was quite tall.

This year I was in Grade 11, and I was turning seventeen on the 4th of July, a date in which my Dad was proud of.

"You dye your hair Amber?" Dad asked as we entered Keys County.

"Oh, um...no, I didnt. Just havent been getting much sun during the winter. Looks mid brown now instead of light brown, doesnt it? I'm not sure if I like it." I replied, feeling myself beginning to babble again.

"Doesnt look like your Mom's much when it's that color" Dad commented dryly, shutting me up.

We were half an hour away from Keys now, and my hair was scruffed up from falling asleep against the window, so I climbed into the back and brushed my hair and quickly put some make up on.

When I scrambled into the front seat again, a quick glance at my Dad told me something was wrong.

He was frowning deeply, squinting his eyes, and he was almost hyperventalating.

"Dad what's wrong?" I asked quickly, putting my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

After a moment his face went back to normal, but I could still see pain in his eyes.

I decided not to ask any further, so I resumed straightening my clothes and gathering my stuff off the dashboard.

We drove past lots of farms and I waved at the workers, whom I felt deeply sorry for, as they were working in the unbearable heat.

I saw a sign which said _ten minutes 'til Keys!_ and started feeling anxious.

"When your Mom and I were driving up to her folks place in the City to tell them she was...pregnant...we were getting close, so she did what you just did: jumped into the back and cleaned herself up. I'm sorry I scared you like that, I totally forgot about that whole trip..." he explained suddenly.

I was taken aback at first, not really knowing what to say, or if I should say anything at all.

"Oh." I croaked, and then we fell into a tense silence as the entrance to the Linklater Ranch came into view.

But Dad didnt turn into the driveway, he just kept driving along the road that led to Keys.

I didnt say anything, because I thought that he might be going to the shops or something, so we continued to sit in silence.

I watched the country roll by: the hills in the distance, the cattle grazing sluggishly in the paddocks, the yellow color of the wheat fields, and I found myself feeling quite sad.

Keys was a fairly strange county, and was divided into two 'enemies', the townies and the farmers.

The farmers usually caused a stir, as they had some sought of grudge against the townies.

About four years ago there was the Keys riots, where the farmers tried to get the townies to move away by burning their houses and running a mess, but it didnt work.

That was all ended thanks to my Aunt Meredith, my dad's twin sister and my cousin Jesse's Mom, who was the Sheriff...and still is.

That's when I had stopped visiting Dad, so I hadnt been to Keys in four years.

I was anxious to see if anything had changed, if the town had grown, if it was still full of hicks and rednecks and hopefully, if there was more shops around.

Dad slowed down as we approached the Keys Intersection, and we turned right along the main road, in the opposite direction of the supermarket.

To my disappointment, Keys hadnt changed much. There were a lot more improvements, but other than that, there was only a few more shops and a couple of new houses.

Keys wasnt an attractive looking town, as there wasnt any green trees or vegetation left from the what seemed constant drought. Most of the houses were just plain brick with the exception of a few rendered houses, but other than that there wasnt anything that caught my eye.

The trees were bare, the grass was yellow, and the only place where there was a vast amount of water was at the Keys Lake, which was about a five minute drive out of town, but that water was brown and muddy.

It was a good place to do a whole lot of nothing except tan, let's say that.

We continued to drive east along the main road until we got to what looked a new estate called 'Golden Gates Estate'.

I was now deeply confused about why we were here, when Dad lived at the Ranch with his younger brother Harry and his nephew, my cousin, Jesse.

I still didnt say anything, as I was lookng at the new houses that seemed to look extravagant compared to the small brick houses back in the central part of town.

These houses were _all _sandstone brick houses that had red roofs on top.

They all looked quite similar, but some even had _green _grass on their lawns.

Dad drove along the new section of main road until he got to the last left turn available, Rockford Road, and turned into the new house lined street.

He got up about halfway up the street when he turned right into number fifty four, another brand new house which looked almost exactly the same as the ones beside it.

He stopped the car in the driveway, which was on the right side of the lawn.

Ahead of us was a double garage with a big roller door, and above that, on the second storey, was a large window with bright red curtains.

Thinking Dad was visiting a friend, I remained in the car and stared at the beautiful house.

There was a small path that left from the driveway to the huge front door, which was a creme color.

Dad walked around to my door and opened it, obviously expecting me to get out.

"So who lives here?" I asked, slamming the door a bit to hard behind me. Dad laughed, but I didnt find it that amusing.

"We do honey." he replied as he opened the trunk and started unloading my many suitcases.

I squeled in excitement and accidently tripped over my suitcase.

"No way!" I screamed, getting up and jumping around joyfully.

Dad's face went completely red as an old couple living to our right stared distastefully towards us.

"Sorry!" I called, and reduced my jumping and squeling to a minimum level.

"You like it?" Dad asked. I lept into his arms.

"Yes!" I approved, hugging him around the neck, until my weight became a bit of a problem for him.

"The Company gave me the new car, house and job...good deal I'd say." Dad commented, handing me the keys so I could open the door and allow him to drag my stuff inside.

"Shit yeah." I said, then regretted it quite quickly. Dad shot me a mad look, but said nothing, as it was true.

I skipped to the front door, careful not to step on the beautiful green grass, and opened the large creme door.

I immediatley smelt bleach or some cleaning product like that, and knew that Dad had made an attempt to clean the house before he left to get me.

The fall was completely tiled with faded orange tiles, except in the lounge room to my right, which had creme carpet.

To my left was the kitchen, which was large and had cedar benches, and then I turned right into the dining area, which had a large cedar dining set.

Beyond that was a large glass sliding door that led onto a patio and then into the backyard, which I could see also had lucious green grass.

I skipped back around to the lounge room and, like the kitchen, led onto another space, which Dad had set up as an office or something.

I ran excitedly back to the front door to help Dad carry my stuff upstairs, which was directly in front of the door.

We walked up the carpeted stairs into a tiled hallway.

At the left end of the hallway was Dad's room, which had an ensuite and a walk in wardrobe.

Next to that was another study, and then a large bathroom with a spa.

On the right of the bathroom was a small laundry, and at the right end of hallway was my room, which had a small walk in wardrobe.

It was painted bright red with white trimmings, and I realised it was the room above the garage.

Dad had bought me a new silver metal double bed, red sheets and blankets, a new bedside table and a cedar desk and vanity table with a large mirror.

"Oh...my...god." was all I managed to squek out of my overwhelmed body.

Dad shrugged past me and rested my bags down on the bottom of my bed.

"You like? I hope you still like red." Dad commented plainly. I dropped the bags at my side and ran into Dad's arms once again. This time I hugged him for a long and meaningful time, quite tightly too.

"Is that a yes?" he guessed, patting my back warmly. I pulled away from him and took in the sight of my _perfect _room.

"Yes! I love it Dad, it's perfect. I love you." I replied, and pecked him on the cheek.

He cleared his throat.

"Yeah, well...I got you got you one of them laptops as well, and a cordless phone. They're in your cupboard. I'll go and get the rest of your gear." he informed me awkwardly.

I almost collapsed right there and then.

My own laptop? My own phone?!

Back at Aunt Janiece's house my room was previously a study, and I had never had any of these comforts there.

Maybe I wouldnt regret moving to Keys after all.

I raced to my cupboard, pulling it open carelessly to find a Mac Air (a thin white laptop), and a matching white cordless phone, sitting on one of the bare shelves.

Also, there were a hundred dollar each SportsPower and VanityGirl gift vouchers sitting on top of the laptop box.

I screamed so loud that I think I broke the decimal limit.

From outside, Dad must of thought there was something wrong, so he raced back up into my room, to find me jumping around like a kangaroo.

He got surprisingly mad at me for screaming like I did, but honestly, I dont think I was loud enough.

He explained the vouchers, beautiful room, laptop and phone by saying it was 'his way of repaying me for having to wait for him to grow up'.

He then said that he had a few work related things to do at his office, and left me to unpack, leaving behind a hundred and fifty dollars so I could ride to shops when it got lighter (as it was only eight thirty in the morning) and buy anything I needed.

It only took me half an hour to unpack and when I was done, I walked slowly around my new house, feeling not at all anxious anymore.

I sat down on the brand new sofa, and almost instantly fell asleep.

I dreamt of the new house, and some other whacky stuff, but nothing out of the usual dreams.

When I woke, it was intensly hot. After a quick glance at my watch, I realized it was exactly midday.

I trudged slowly up to my room and pulled on some denim short shorts and a white singlet, then headed to the garage to collect my bike, which was also brand new.

I grabbed my wallet and my phone and somehow managed to fit them into the pockets of my short shorts, and snatched the keys of a hook near the front door.

After I had the house locked up I skipped into the garage and climbed onto my bike, and rode out into the blistering sun.

It was a nice day, but days like this in Kansas could get a bit to hot, and most of the people I saw walking on the Golden Gates Estate pathways were already sunburnt.

Riding was one of my favourite things to do, and I rode quite fast, so it only took me half an hour to get to the shops.

I ditched my bike in the bike rack and walked into the cool air conditioned supermarket and immediatley felt like I was in a hospital.

The walls, floor and everything else was white, and their were large florescent lights lighting up the empty isles.

I pulled out a piece of paper that I had shoved in my pocket that had a list of things to buy scribbled on it.

I weaved my way slowly through the isles, grabbing anything that I thought I would nead, which included a ten pack of Gatorade, a sports magazine, that time of the month essentials, toiletries and more hairties, along with a hundred dollars worth of _healthy _food.

I waited patiently as the lady at the check out beeped all my items rather slowly.

I was flipping through a couple of magazines and texting my best friend Emma back in Saints Beach when I noticed that everyone was staring at me.

I put my phone back in my pocket and turned to the check out lady.

"Hey, excuse me? What are they staring at?" I asked, gesturing towards the shop full of people glaring at me.

"This might sound stupid, but they think you're a ghost." she answered shyly. My jaw dropped. A ghost?

"Um...why?" I questioned curiously, leaning on the counter.

"Well, you just look so much like your mother. Not everyone knew she had a daughter." she replied, starting to pick up her pace.

"Oh...right." I commented to myself. I didnt like all this attention, and I began wondering if I shouldve dressed more formally. After a few more moments of being intensly stared at, I snapped.

"Look I'm her god damn daughter, alright? Now stop staring at me!" I shouted into the direction of the isles.

I heard a few remarks, and then people continued their shopping.

"Er...ma'am? That comes to a total of one hundred and twenty three dollars." the check out lady told me cautiously. I paid the bill then grabbed the trolley and took it outside, and then realized my problem.

I had a trolley full of bags and I was riding a bag, great.

Remembering Dad's office was nearby, I pushed the trolley roughly across the road, without looking where I was walking.

I must have walked into oncoming traffic, as I heard a screech and I turned to see a big black 4WD blaring it's horn at me. My heart skipped a couple of beats, but I continued to push the trolley across the wide road towards the United Farmers Distrubtion Union Keys Centre.

I ditched the trolley outside and pushed my way through the glass double doors.

There was a young lady sitting at a desk in a bare room.

"Hi, how are you?" she asked pleasantly. I smiled and shoved my hands in my pockets.

"Good thanks. I'm looking for my Dad, Mr. Linklater?" I asked, getting to the point.

"Sure, Amber, go right in." she replied, gesturing towards a wooden door in the top right hand corner of the room. I flashed her a quick smile before entering my Dad's messy office.

I cant really describe what his office looked like right now, because it was all covered by tons of paper.

Dad was sitting with a client or something at his desk, and they both looked up when I entered.

"Hi, sorry Dad, but I need to borrow your car to get the groceries home." I told him immediatley.

"Sure honey," he replied, throwing me the keys. "this is one of the United Farmers Union Representitives, Mr. Whitlam."

We awkwardly said hi to each other, and then I said goodbye almost straight away.

I left the building, saying goodbye to the lady, named Stephanie, and drove the groceries and my bike home.

After unloading all of the shopping, I made myself a sandwich and sat down to watch the Red Sox versus the Yankees.

I woke up at about five in the morning, still on the couch, but with a blanket on top of me.

I could hear Dad snoring loudly upstairs and, feeling rather energetic, decided to go for a jog.

I crept up the stairs quietly and pulled on my jogging outfit and my shoes, then headed outside, where it was chilly.

Jogging was my way of clearing my head, it was my alone time.

I didnt think about much though, and I ran for quite some time before I realized I was almost at the other end of town. I saw a sign that read 'Lake Keys 5 miles', and decided that would be my destination.

It was a boring walk to Lake Keys.

In the space between where the town ended and the bare forest began was nothing expect for a downward hill.

Nothing besides overgrown grass and a dirt road that seemed to go on forever.

When I finally reached the start of the leaveless tree forest, I slowed to a walk, and felt myself feeling a bit scared, as if someone was watching me.

I was only a two minute walk through the bare trees before I reached the brown Lake Keys.

It looked different than the last time I had seen it.

There was actually some green grass on the west and north side of the lake, and the fifty metres high cliff on the west side now had picnic tables and a railing on the top.

To my surprise, there was already a few people fishing on the lake and sitting at the picnic tables.

I glanced at my watch, and to my shock saw that it was already eight o'clock.

I walked to the edge of the water and splashed some water on my face.

Upon returning back to where I had been standing, I slipped on the mud and landed face down.

The worst part was that my nose had hit a slightly exposed rock, and was now gushing blood.

I picked myself up slowly, and clutched my nose in pain.

A few people had seen me fall from the cliff top, and were now running towards me.

In the lead was a tall, tan black haired woman, holding a handkerchief, thank god.

Behind her was a replica, but slightly taller.

A few metres behind the replica was a not as tan girl and shorter girl.

When they got to me, they appeared to be laughing.

"Hi, there! Took quite a fall didnt you?" the older lady laughed, handing me the handkerchief which I gladly accepted.

"Don't my her, that's my Mom, Burnie Browning. I'm Tiffany, and this is my 'lil sister Ruth." the taller girl said, gesturing towards her Mom and sister.

"You must be Amber then?" Burnie asked suddenly. Tiffany glared at her mother.

"Um..yeah I am. Di you know er?" I replied, struggling to talk with blood gushing into my mouth.

"Yeah she was _my _little sisters best friend in high school before she..."Burnie started, but was unable to finish.

"Die? I swear everywon in this town nu who she was." I said, picking up the converstation again.

"Yeah, and every boy was in love with her." Burnie added. I laughed, but then choked on my own blood.

"Look, I better go. Thanks." I said, not knowing whether to give her the blood soaked handkerchief back or not.

"We were just packing up, so you could get a ride into town with us. Where do you live?" Tiffany suggested.

"Rockford Road." I answered as the blood flow from my nose ceased. They all laughed, these people were crazy.

"Seriously though where do you live?" Tiffany repeated.

"Fifty four Rockford Road, the last street in Golden Gates Estate." I replied.

The smiles faded from their faces while they took in the information.  
"Oh...right. We live in Parker Street, the first one in Golden Gates." Burnie implicated after a moment.

They escorted me to the carpark, where I waited in their blue station wagon while they packed up their gear.

At first the drive was silent, awkward. But once Burnie opened her mouth, she didnt shut it until the end of the car ride.  
"So when did you get here?" Burnie asked, starting the first round of questions.

"Yesterday morning." I replied.

"Getting settled in alright?" she questioned, and I knew this would lead to many more questions.

"Um...yeah I guess."

"Where did you live before?"

"Saints Beach, California."

"Who'd you live with?"

"My great aunt."

"Oh yeah. Did you like living there?" she continued to asked, and I was beginning to feel like I was being interrogated.

"Loved it."

"So why'd you move back here?"

"Well my aunt had a heart attack and I'd promised Dad I'd move back in with him one day, so...yeah."  
"Aw that's to bad. Why didnt you live with your Dad in the first place?"

"Well he couldnt cope to well when my Mom died, and all his brothers and stuff were to young to really help out so my aunt offered." I answered, now beginning to feel breathless.

"I think that's enough for now Mom." Tiffany pointed out, and I felt immensly relieved.

"Oh whatever honey." Burnie laughed, focusing more clearly on the road now.

Tiffany turned around to face me.

"Sorry about that. You probably felt like you were being...interrogated." she said slyly. I frowned, it was like she had known what I was thinking.

"It's okay." I lied. Tiffany winked at me before turning around and reving up the volume on the stereo.

I then realized that ever since I had met the Browning family, Ruth had not said a word.

I risked a quick glance at her, and luckily she was staring sadly out the window.

She must of noticed me looking at her, for she returned the gaze with a pleasant smile.

I smiled and then turned to face out the window. A few moments later, Burnie's voice broke the silence.

"You alright Ruth?" she asked, looking at her daughter through the rear vision mirror.

"Yeah Mom, it's fine." Ruth replied, and I immediatly felt aware that they were referring to something private.

I glanced out the window and noticed that Burnie had turned into my street already.

She drove along until we reached the driveway, where she pulled in with sharp turn that made me collide with Ruth.

She cut the engine and we sat in silnce for a moment. I was deciding whether or not I should invite them in or not, but then Dad burst through the door and walked over to Burnie's window, which she rolled down.

"Hello, Burnie," he began, then after glancing at me and my dried bloody nose said,"what happened?".

"Well I went for a jog to the lake, and then fell on a rock...then Burnie, Tiffany and Ruth helped me home." I explained quickly, so Burnie wouldnt ramble on about my klutzy fall.

"Oh, well...thank you Burnie." Dad stated, looking more relaxed now. Burnie smiled.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me. At least now my clothes arent stained with blood." I joked, and began to climb out of the car, but Ruth grabbed my elbow.

"Dont run up and down the stairs...you could fall. I'll see you at school okay? Meet you at the office at eight forty five." she informed me strangly.

I thanked her ad got out of the car, then waited with Dad while they drove away.

"Fell on a rock, aye?" Dad commented slyly as they turned around the corner.

"Shutup." I replied, then trudged back inside.

I was still confused about what Ruth had meant by not running up and down the stairs, which I wasnt planning to do.

But I merely pushed the comment aside and focused on the main thing: I now had someone _normal_ to hang out with at school, and Ruth seemed like a nice girl.

It was Sunday today, and I was mildly excited and nervous about my first day of school tomorrow.

The high school at Keys was actually quite large, with around five hundred students that attended it.

As it was the only high school for a hundred miles, the townies and the farmers children both had to attend it, so I guessed that there would be lots of fights and stuff, but that happened at any high school.

The High school was located at the very edge of town, near where I had walked this morning.

Now that I thought of it, the large space of bare downward land which I had seen had probably been the high's schools oval.

Unlike other American high schools, Keys District High School was not one large building, but about a dozen house sized white brick buildings with dark red roofs.

Dad had all of my school stuff lying in the study area near the lounge room, so I went and rummaged through it.

There was small information booklet, six brand new red books with a matching red folder and a red pencil case, and my timetable.

I was doing English, Drama, Sport Studies, Advanced Maths, German and Physics.

While I was preparing all my stuff for tomorrow, there was a knock at the door, so I raced down to open it.

Standing on the other side was a beautiful lady with mid brown hair done up in a bun and hazel eyes with long black eyelashes.

"Oh hello, you must be Amber." she greeted with a pleasant smile.

"Er...yeah." I replied awkwardly, amazed by her beauty. She stepped in closer, so I allowed her inside.

"I'm Nicola, your Dad's...House Assistant." she explained, and I relaxed.

"House Assistant?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"Yes, I cook, clean, all that stuff. I come every day at four in the afternoon besides Saturdays." she explained further. I nodded, and she went straight upstairs and grabbed a vacuum out of a small cupboard. I didnt move from where I was standing, as I had nothing to do.

"So is this your only job?" I asked quite nosely, but she didnt seem to mind.

"No," she answered, and paused for a moment. "I'm at this rich family's house all day, taking care of their three kids, cause they work at The Company's main office as Lawyers. At the end of the week, I get like a thousand bucks _after _tax, so it's all good." she babbled. I smiled, she seemed friendly enough.

"Do you like the kids?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, love 'em. Their names are Kiara, Zach and Ashleigh, they're really well behaved so it's not like it's a challenging job or anything. But the parents are ignorant and snobby." Nicola continued.

She said something about having to vacuum, then left the room. Seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of a vacuum blaring away.

"So you met Nicola then?" I heard Dad ask from the top of the staircase, which startled me.

"Yeah. She's nice. Since when did you need help like that?" I asked, after my heart slowed down.

"Since I moved into this huge house." he answered, toweling his wet hair. I laughed, my Dad had changed _a lot _since I had last seen him.

"You nervous about school?" he asked, grabbing his keys of the hook.

"Not really, I got Ruth to hang out with...so that's something. Where you going?" I asked.

"I need to pick something up from the mechanics, you coming?" he replied. I nodded, and followed him to the car.

Dad drove way to quickly for my liking. I dont think he realized that he didnt need to press down on the gas pedle so hard in this new car.

We arrived at the Mechanics with a slam of his brake, and I jumped out of the car quickly, eager to touch hard ground again.

I followed Dad around to the small office where the man at the desk said "it's ready" and led us around to the back of the shed that the mechanic operated in.

The ugly little man walked over to a bright red two door Honda with a large purple ribbon tied around and opened the door.

"Do you like it?" Dad asked, looking closing at my face to see my reaction. I turned to him, my face full of disbelief.

"WHAT?" I shouted quite fiercly. Dad looked quite pleased with himself.

"Early birthday present." he explained plainly.

I exploded.

I dont want to go into epic detail, but let's just saying there was a lot of hugging, jumping, screaming and "no way!" was shouted a thousand times.

I jumped inside the leather interior car, and put my hands on the steering wheel.

"Holy shit Dad. You're the best." I complemented him. His eyes glistened.

He handed me the keys and I let out another excited squel of excitement.

"Geez Amber, I dont think my ears can much more of your squeling." he complained. I laughed.

"Dad, I dont understand how you could afford this." I said, my tone now becoming confused.

He looked defeated.

"Well The Company actually gave it to me as a bribery offer sort of a thing, because they knew that you would be coming up to live with me and...they said that if I accepted they'd give me the truck...so everybody won." he explained.

"Wow. Cool." was all I could manage to say. This was beyond cool. This was legendary.

Dad and I were starting off really well, and I was beginning to regret not moving back earlier.

But if I had of moved back a year before, things would have been different, they would have been worse.

Dad would have still been in his fourteen year long Great Depression and he wouldve been living on the secluded Ranch with my aunt Meredith, my one year older cousin Jesse, my uncle Harry and Barno, who I had know idea how I was realted to.

Dad allowed me to drive home, and I made it without scratching the car or burning the tires.

I also felt suddenly privelaged when I realized that I had my own car space in the garage.

Keys was _really _growing on me.

I had arrived...and survived.


	3. First Day

_**Hi! Sorry I didnt upload this chapter last night, so Im going to upload a few more tonight. Plse review**_

_**3. FIRST DAY**_

I woke up at six thirty on my first day at Keys District High School. I could have slept in for another half an hour, but I was to excited to sleep, so I had an extra long shower.

It was pouring rain and absolutley freezing outside, so I decided to wear dark blue skinny jeans with a long sleeved button up dark grey shirt and black All stars and a matching Black jacket.

My hair dried quickly, as it was also really thin as well as being extremely straight.

I quickly smoothed some tan moisteriser over my face and applied some mascara.

I then skipped down the stairs, almost running, but then remembered what Ruth had said and slowed to a walk.

Dad was already eating a bowl of cereal in the kitchen, so I joined him.

"So I guess you're excited then." he commented, noticing my energetic entrance.

"Yep." I replied merrily, and began humming to myself as I ate a bowl of cereal and swallowed a glass of orange juice.

I went back upstairs and brushed my teeth and carelessly put some lipgloss on, then glanced at my watch to check the time.

It was almost eight, and I knew that was to early to go to school, so I listened to my ipod until it was twenty five to nine, and then left.

I had to locked up, as Dad had left at eight, and then I jumped into my new car and sped off to school.

It only took me five minutes, so by the time I got there it was almost time to meet Ruth at the Office.

But to my surprise, she was leaning against a small blue car in the parking lot, which was directly in front of the office.

I stopped two spaces down for her, and got out quickly to greet her.  
"Hi!" I called. She turned to me and smiled, then looked at me up and down.

"Hey Amber," she replied. "don't you think that's a bit...dressy?".

I looked at what I was wearing, then at her.

She was wearing a plain white long sleeved shirt under a dark blue velvet jumper with matching dark blue sweat pants and sheepskin boots.

I looked around at some other students that were just arriving, and they too were wearing daggy old clothes, mostly flanalette shirts and ripped up jeans.

"Oh." I managed to croak, realizing that this would mean I would be under scrutinizing eyes all day.

"What subject do you have second?" Ruth asked, as we began walking towards the right side of the office, which seemed to be the only entrance to the other buildings, as there was a large bush further to the right, and the school boundry was at the other end of the building, leaving only a small space between the office and the bush.

"Um...," I began, pulling my timetable out of my jean pocket with difficulty. "Advanced Maths."

"Cool, I have Chemistry first." she replied, then added. "I'll meet you after Physics for lunch."

"Okay."

We weaved our way in around a lot of white brick buildings until we came to a huge sqaure building.

The very left entrance read 'Audotorium', the middle 'Cafeteria', and the right 'Gym'.

Ruth led me to the Cafeteria entrance and opened the door.

It was a very plain looking Cafeteria, just like any other high school would have.

There were about fifty other students there, but Ruth had her sights set on three students sitting to the far right.

There was a tall fiery red haired boy with piercing brown eyes, a wavy blonde haired girl with green eyes and a light brown haired girl with blue eyes.

As we approached, the brown haired girl sprung to her feet lightly and skipped her way over to us.

"Hello! I'm Evan, and this is Knox," she said, gesturing to the red haired boy who appeared by her side. "and that stubborn thing over there is Georgia."

Evan? What a strange name for someone as beautiful as she was.

Georgia walked proudly towards us, but then turned and walk out of the Cafeteria.

"Dont mind her, she's just jealous that you'll be getting all of the attention for the rest of the year." Evan explained.

"Oh." I replied, starting to feel a bit unwanted. Evan wrapped her arms around my elbows, as she couldnt reach my shoudlers.

"Dont worry about her, she's ignorant." she assured me with a smile.

"Three...two...one..." Ruth said immediatley before the bell rang, without glancing at her watch.

"How'd you do that?" I asked, as we began to leave the Cafeteria.

Ruth hesitated.

"Practice." she answered.

All eyes were on me in home room.

Not only was I the new girl from the west coast, but I was also way to overdressed.

Evan sat next to me, and when she saw that I was rather uncomfortable she stood up and said:

"Just because she's new doesnt mean you have to stare, so _stop_."

I felt embaressed, but it worked, and everyone turned their heads the other way.

"Thanks." I said, as she sat back down. But I was still feeling uneasy.

She put her hand on my arm.

"That's okay. You'll be _fine_." she commented, and I did feel much better. I was really starting to like Evan, so I flashed her a smile.

When home room finished, Evan walked me to my German class, where I found out that Ruth was in my class, to my relief.

German flew by quickly, and before I knew it, I was in my Advanced Maths class, sitting next to Knox.

However, we didnt speak throughout the whole lesson, and he sat as still as a statue, his eyes wide open.

When the class finished, he escorted me to the Cafeteria where we met up with Ruth, Evan and Georgia.

Lunch went really fast, as I was having a good time with Evan and Ruth.

They were showing me all the other kids in the school and telling me funny stuff about them.

They told me who to stay away from and that Jax Rabot was a womanizer and that the girl with a pink streak in her hair was Lila, who once had a breakdown because someone stole her make-up bag.

By the end of lunch my ribs were sore with laughing, but as the giggling died down and the bell rang, I still felt uneasy about Georgia and Knox.

Georgia was wearing fuzzy black gloves and a green outfit that matched her eyes, and she had sat almost completely stil throughout the whole time, with the exception of her eye rolling.

Whenever she looked at me it was with a burning hate, and she made me uncomfortable.

I had nothing against Knox, because he just sat silent and still as well.

This time I had Drama with Georgia, and this lesson seemed to drag on for hours.

I had a class full of mostly jokers, so we didnt get a lot done.

I could feel Georgia's deadly green eyes on me the entire lesson, and I snapped in the end.

"What?" I almost shouted at her. "what are you looking at?"

She said nothing, but merely looked away.

The bell rang shortly afterwards, and I ran straight to the bathroom and splashed water in my face to get the feeling of Georgia's eyes off me.

I looked into the mirror and saw my plain light brown hair and my dark brown eyes staring back at me.

"Amber?" I heard a familiar voice ask. I spun around to see Tiffany Browning, Ruth's older sister, standing in the bathroom doorway.

"Hi Tiffany." I replied glumly as I wiped my face. She noticed my sad expression.

"Not having a good day?" she pushed. I sighed, I guess I had to talk to someone about it.

"No it's going fine, you're sister and Evan are _so _welcoming, it's just Georgia and Knox, they're kind of freaking me out." I explained. She nodded.

"Don't be. They're like that to _everyone_, even Ruth and Evan. I wouldnt worry about it if I were you." she assured me.

"Thanks, I wont. See you later." I said, and then left the toilet block.

I walked slowly back to the Cafeteria, where Ruth and Evan were waiting anxiously for my arrival.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, but I ran into Tiffany and we got talking." I explained.

That lunch was more about them questioning me, and then vice versa.

Evan was actually named Evana Capracious and she also lived in Golden Gates Estate, only three blocks away from mine on Blue Sky Lane. She also told me that her parents were environmental consultants, and that her Mom worked with my Dad sometimes.

Knox didnt do any talking but Evan told me that his Mom was a Paramedic and they also lived in Golden Gates Estate.

Georgia talked a little about herself, and she lived in the same street as me, at number eighteen.

We continued to talk until the bell rang, and we all went our seperate ways.

This time none of them were in my English class, but Evan assured me that it'd be fine, and I believed her.

I walked into my classroom, and handed a note to the teacher, Miss Ellis, telling her I was a new student and blah blah blah.

She told me to take a seat next to the window, and I did as I was told.

Luckily I didnt have a good view, otherwise I wouldve been staring out there all afternoon.

However the view I got was just of the barren oval, something I'd rather _not _look at.

I was scribbling something in my homework diary when Miss Ellis called my name.

At first I didnt realize it because I was focused on writing something down, but then I did think it was me because I normally used my mothers last name, Mathers, and not my fathers, which was Linklater.

I felt a prod in my side shortly after and turned to see the boy sitting to my right holding a pencil in his hand.

He was _beautiful_.

He had Knox black hair and dark gray eyes, with a very solid face.

"Hey Linklater, you're being called out." he noted, his voice harsh.

"Oh, um...present!" I shouted, answering Miss Ellis' call.

Immediatley after, she called out the boy sitting next to me's name.

"Judd O'Burn?"

"Present!" he called, without looking away from my face.

"Meagan Monaghan!" I heard Miss Ellis call, but I blocked out all the noise around me and focused my attention on Judd.

We stared at each other for what seemed a long time, before he finally looked away.

I kept staring at him, as his face was exquisite. I could see him look at me in the corner of his eye every now and then, but he didnt make eye contact with me again.

I looked away, out the window, into the barren oval, to distract myself.

That English lesson on poetry flew by mildly, I was eager to get home, so I almost jumped out of my seat when the bell rang.

But Judd sprung at the same time, and we collided, our heads butting and our books flying every where.

I sat back down in my seat and held my hand to my forehead, as I began to feel dizzy.

When the dizziness slowed, I bent down to pick up my books, but noticed that blood had begun to drip from my forehead, and my hand flew up to stop it from spilling further.

Judd and I gathered our books together quickly, and then Judd left first, without a word.

As I was about to leave, Miss Ellis noticed that my forehead was bleeding, and whipped a band aid out from her draw and stuck it over the source of blood.

I said a quick goodbye, and then left in a hurry towards my locker.

As I was getting some of my stuff out, I noticed that I had accidently picked up Judd's book insdead of mine.

I raced out to the carpark to see if I could find him, and noticed that he was leaning next to a black 4WD, the one that had almost hit me when I went shopping.

I walked down to the carpark, ignoring the staring eyes.

Although he had his back to me, his Knox black wasnt hard to miss, and I contemplated in my head what I was going to say to him.

I paced my way slowly towards him, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

He spun around to face me with almost angry looking eyes.

"Um...I have your book." I explained, feeling belittled. Without saying a word, he whipped out my book from nowhere and gave it to me, then held out his hand to retrieve his.

I gave it to him cautiously, and he snatched it out of my hands, and then hopped in his car and drove away quickly.

"Hmm," I said to myself. "mysterious."

"What is?" Evan asked, appearing behind me, startling my unprepared body.

"Jesus, Evan! You scared me!" I whined, clutching my heart.

"Sorry. What's mysterious?" she repeated, joining me in watching Judd speed away down the street.

"Judd O'Burn." I answered. She looked a little bit stunned for a moment, but then resumed her normal happy face.

"He's a freak." she commented, somewhat forcibly. I eyed her suspiciously.

She grabbed my arm.

"Let's _not_ talk about Judd, okay?" she demanded.

"Alright." I replied, almost immediatley.

She walked me to my car, where Ruth and Georgia were waiting for us.

I offered them all a lift home, and they accepted, as they didnt own a car and were frequently getting a ride with Tiffany.

The drive home was fun, as we mainly joked the whole way.

I dropped Ruth home first, and then Evan asked if she could come home with me.

So then we let Georgia out at her place, and drove along until we pulled into my garage.

Evan whistled.

"Shutup...Evana." I teased. She shot a dark look at me and grabbed my arm again.

"_Don't _call me that." she said darkly.

"Um...okay." I replied, feeling very threatend. She laughed so loud it almost burst my ears.

"You shouldve seen your face!" she laughed as we stepped inside the house.

Dad was already home, watching the game on the big screen.

"Hey, Dad." I greeted him.

"How was your day?" he asked, eyeing Evan suspiciously.

"Good...great! Oh yeah, Dad this is Evan Capracious." I said, and Evan shook my Dad's hand.

"Nice to meet you." Evan said merrily.

"Likewise." Dad replied.

"My Mom's Heather Tarrison." she explained, satisfying the curious look on Dad's face.

"Ahh, yes. I recongized those blue eyes. Your Mom talks about you all the time, I was hoping that Amber would get a chance to meet you." he commented.

"Well, we're going to go upstairs and listen to music or something." I said to Dad, even though he didnt really need to know.

Evan and I hung out until the sun was no longer in the sky, and then I drove her home.

When I got back home, at seven o'clock, there was a large silver bmw 4WD parked in the driveway.


	4. Stephen, Sage & Sadie

_**4. STEPHEN, SAGE & SADIE**_

Their number plate read 'CHMBRLND', so I knew it was the Chamberland's.

The Chamberland's consisted of Stephen and his twin children that were one year older than me, Sadie and Sage, whom their mother had died giving birth to.

I hadnt seen them in seven years, but we got on really well, as they werent your average small town folks.

Stephen Chamberland was the Mayor of Keys county, Sadie a medal winning swimmer, and Sage was just a perfect all rounder.

I would never see Sadie and Sage at school, as they went to a boarding school during the week, and only lived here on the weekends.

I didnt know why they were here now, as it was a Monday.

I had first met them when I was four, and we had continued to see each other everytime I visited, up until four years ago.

Luckily Stephen had parked on the Dad's side of the driveway, allowing me to park my car in the garage.

I quickly tidied myself up a little bit then made my way into the house, which was silent.

The lights were off, and I could no longer here the sound of Nicola busying herself around the house with chores and cooking.

I walked slowly up the stairs and had a peek around, but no one was there, so I went back down into the living room, where I sat on the couch impatiently.

Suddenly I heard loud "boo!", and I screamed until my lungs almost burst.

Someone put their hand over my mouth, which muffled my screaming a bit.

The lights flicked on, and I found myself surrounded by half a dozen people, but cursed at myself when I realized it was just Dad, Stephen, Sage, Sadie and Nicola playing a trick on me.

"That was so not funny!" I yelled, after Sage released his hand from my mouth. But they obviously thought it was quite funny, as they were still laughing.

I folded my arms and tapped my feet impatiently, waiting for the to cease laughing.

"That was so worth the damage to my ears." Sadie admitted. I couldnt help but smile a little.

After a few minutes they stopped, and the room fell silent.

I looked at Sage and Sadie, there were as beautiful as ever.

They were the same age as me, and they were two of the few people who had the privelage of being the same height as me.

The both had golden hair with light brown streaks and dark brown eyes. They were mildly tan, and Sage's hair had grown amazingly curly, and Sadie's was pulled back into a pony tail.

The Chamberland's had always dressed well, and always seemed to wear dark colors like navy blue, brown, creme, grey and black and always wore long jackets that made them look official.

"Well look at you, Amber. You're so tall, and skinny, and beautiful. You look just like you're Mom." Stephen commented, checking out my appearance.

"Um...thanks. You dont look to bad yourself, I like the silver hair," then I added. "you two look great."

"Thanks, my hair's gone a bit green after all the training I've been doing." Sadie replied, running her fingers through her slightly green hair.

Sage remained silent.

"Hey Amber, Stephen was thinking maybe we could go down to the diner and get dinner?" Dad suggested. I looked at Nicola, she smiled.

"Nicola's coming too, honey." Stephen informed me.

I agreed to go, and then we all piled into what I thought was Stephen's car, but turned out to be Sage's.

Stephen drove, and Dad sat in the passenger seat beside him. Sage and Nicola sat behind them, and then Sadie and I were up a the very back.

"So how's swimming going?" I asked, starting up the conversation.

"Great, I'm looking at Beijing next year. Trials are in one month." she replied.

"Really? That's awesome, I wish _I _was that good at something." I moaned. Sadie rolled her eyes.  
"You're kidding me, right? You're good at _everything_. Baseball, basketball, tennis, swimming, running and heaps more!" she complimented.

"Thanks, but I dont think so." I stated, and tapped Sage on the shoulder. He turned around, and I was bedazzled by his beautiful face.

"What?" he asked, slightly rudely.

"So what's up with you?" I asked, ignoring his rude gesture. Sadie leaned forward.

"Not much, he's being a bit of an a-hole at the moment, so dont worry about him." she explained.

"Oh." I said, frowning, and I back away from him.

"What's wrong with him?" I whispered in Sadie's ear.

"He's a boy." she whispered back. I giggled, that seemed to be the answer to everything a boy did wrong.

"Seriously thought, he's in love." she added.

I looked at her in shock. Sage, in love? No way.

"With who?" I demanded, a bit more louder than required.

"A girl named Penne Paltrow, she goes to your school, she's a really good dancer and a great gymnist." Sadie explained.

"That doesnt really explain why he's in a bad mood." I pointed out.

"She's going to Beijing for the olympics next year, and she has to leave in six months to live in New York for training." she added.

"That's to bad," I replied sympathetically. "do you have a boyfriend?"

Sadie laughed.

"Me? No, never. I think all men are womanizer's." she giggled. I frowned.

"That's a bit harsh." I commented.

"Maybe, but I dont really have time for boys anyway, with my training and all." she said.

"I guess..." I said quietly. She turned to me, with an excited look on her face.

"So, tell me about your day. Who did you sit with?" she asked.

"Evan Capracrious, Ruth Browning, Knox Young and Georgia Donte." I answered, amazed at how I remembered all of their last names.

"What?!" she shouted, almost scaring me out of my seat.

"What's going on back their?" Stephen shouted. Sadie looked distraught.

"Nothing, Dad." she croaked, and then turned back to me.  
"Why are you sitting with them?" she demanded.

"I-I got i-invited." I stuttered. Her face relaxed and she apologized for blowing up.

We sat in a tense silence for a moment, before she turned to me sheepishly.

"Did you see any boys you liked?" she asked slyly. I felt myself blush, and rattled my brain to see if their was an answer to her question.

"Well...there was one guy I thought was _really_ cute." I replied. Her face lit up.

"Who is it?" she demanded excitedly.

I bit my lip. "Judd O'Burn." I admitted.

Stephen slammed on the breaks, and we all hit our heads on the seats in front of us.

"We're here." he coughed out.

I got out of the car without question on my he had slammed the brakes, and headed with the into the small Diner.

The rest of the night was a blur, but it was inlvolved with laughing, spaghetti, more laughing and then me getting to bed at midnight.


	5. The Horse

_**5. THE HORSE**_

The rest of the week went very fast, but it was really amazing.

Not much happened on Tuesday, as I was too tired to do anything from the night out with the Chamberland's.

On Wednesday, I had English again, but Judd had changed seats, and was now sitting in the back row, so I was unable to talk with him.

On Thursday morning, Evan and I went for a jog in the morning, and she came over my house in the afternoon and we did our Physics homework together.

Friday morning Evan and I got up early to swim at the local pool, and we both slept over at Ruth's house.

Ruth also gave me another one of her weird warnings, this time she said: "if you ever ride a horse, make sure you dont ride in the wheat fields, because they get scared of snakes."

I had to leave her house early on Saturday morning, as Dad had arranged for us to visit the Ranch with Sadie and Nicola, as she had become like my big sister.

We picked her up from her Dad's _huge _house just outside of town, and then made the ten minute long drive to the Ranch.

We drove through the wooden archway that read 'Linklater Ranch', and continued on to the old two story farmhouse.

Aunt Meredith was waiting excitedly on the front porch, and my cousin Jesse was sitting on a horse just outside of the big red barn.

"Oh my lord, Amber! Look at you!" she greeted, hugging me tightly in her arms.

"Hey aunt Meredith." I replied, less enthuisiastically as she was.

"And who's this?" she asked pleasantly, gesturing towards Nicola.

"Nicola, she's our house assistant. Dad and I wanted you to meet her, cause she's my big sis now." I answered. Meredith and Nicola shook hands and began talking about boring adult stuff.

My Uncle Harry came out of the house, and the first person he looked at was Nicola.

He looked stunned, as if someone had slapped him across the face.

He stared at her talking to Meredith for a long hard moment, then slowly turned his attention to me.

"Hi, Amber," he began, coming back to his senses. "boy you look like your Mom."

I moaned. "everyone says that! Does that mean its a compliment?"

"Of course, you're Mom was the prettiest girl in Keys County." he replied, and I noticed the word '_was_' in particular, as he was knowing staring at Nicola again.

"Um...Uncle Harry this is our house assistant, Nicola." I said, and they shook hands awkwardly.

Nicola looked at my uncle the same way that he had looked at her, and I had to restrain myself from laughing.

I did the math, my Dad had turned thirty seven two weeks ago, and Uncle Harry was four years younger than he was, making him thirty three, and Nicola had told me that she was turning thirty in march.

_Perfect_, I thought. Match made.

Meredith and Harry had already met Sadie before, but they made a few comments on how much she'd changed.

Jesse came striding up to us, looking like a cowboy.

"Howdy." he said, tipping his hat. Sadie and I laughed.

"Alright, thanks. You?" I asked. He spat in the dirt, sending me and Sadie into laughter again at his attempt to be a cowboy.

"Yeah, good. Do you want a ride?" he suggested, gesturing towards a large brown horse.

"Are you serious?" I asked, wondering how I would get on it.

"Sure. If you're allowed." he said, but his question was directed at my Dad.

"Um..." Dad began. I got down on my knees, and started the begging.

"Oh, please Dad?" I begged, trying to make myself look sad.

"Yeah, c'mon Mr Linklater, I'll ride with her. I've done it before." Sadie assured him.

Dad agreed and I soon found myself being told how to ride a horse by Jesse.

I wasnt really paying attention though, as I just wanted to get onto the horse.

He was mumbling something about wheat fields, and I was stroking the big brown horse, Woody.

Jesse concluded his horse riding lecture, and then helped me get onto the saddle first.

Woody was a huge horse, but Jesse lifted me up with ease.

After I got myself adjusted, hands clutched tightly on the reigns, he lifted Sadie up as well.

We only just fit on the saddle together, and it was the comfortable, but I was excited.

"Dont worry about getting lost, cause I wont be far behind. Oh, and make sure you're back before noon." he added.

I glanced at my watch, it was half past ten, plenty of time.

He shook the reigns for me, and we were off.

We trot along slowly at first, just talking and deciding where we should go, and then we sped up as we got out of sight of the house.

We began to go quite fast, and the feeling was amazing. We got jolted around a little but the feel of the breeze blowing through my air was priceless.

Woody sped up to a bit more than a jog, and I started worrying how to stop, as I hadnt listened to that part of Jesse's lecture.

We sped along, getting faster and faster by the second.

As we approached the wheat fields, I heard Sadie yell something in my ear, but I ignored her.

The weat fields were somewhat overgrown, and Sadie and I were soon being whipped across the face by long wheat strands.

I wanted to stop, but I didnt know how, so I tried tugging on the reigns hard, but Woody didnt react at all.

"How do we stop?" I shouted to Sadie, but I didnt hear if she replied or not.

I was scared of falling off, as Woody's incredible speed was shaking Sadie and I around, so I clutched to hs neck as tightly as I could, and I felt Sadie grab onto my back tightly.

We lasted like this for about ten mintues, until Woody suddenly stopped, and stood up on his back legs, sending me and Sadie sprawling onto the ground.

My arms shot out in defence as I fell of the left side of the horse, and I felt my left arm snap as I collided with the ground.

Pain shot up my arm and throughout my entire body, and I moaned in pain.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I heard Woody trotting away from us, and I didnt know what had happened to Sadie.

"Keep...very...still." I heard Sadie whisper.

I opened my eyes and looked around me.

Just must of just slipped off the back of the horse, as she was in the exact spot as where Woody had stopped.

She was croutching on the ground, looking directly at my feet, her eyes fixed on something.

I looked, and saw what she had been looking at.

There was a large snake, hissing at me with an angry look.

I gasped, and the snake went into it's attacking position.

"No!" Sadie screamed, and jumped in the way pf the snake.

The snake sprung forward, and clutched onto the left side of her neck.

She screamed, and pulled the snake off her.

It slithered away quickly into the safety of the wheat fields, leaving Sadie clutching her neck.

"Sadie?" I half shouted, she looked at me, looking very sick.

"I'm fine," she assured me. "c'mon, we have to get back."

She helped me get onto my feet, and I stared at her, absolutley stunned.

"Jesse!" she yelled, then winced in pain because of the strain shouting had done on her neck.

I didnt know why she was yelling, as no one was going to hear us.

But, to my surprise, Jesse came running out of nowhere within half a minute.

"What happened?" he asked, as soon as he was in hearing distance.

"We fell, and Sadie got bitten." was all I managed to spit out.

He didnt even gance at Sadie, but instead pick me up and cradled me in his arms.

"What about Sadie?" I demanded.

"We'll come back for her." he assured me, and then he began to run.

I must of forgotten how fast Jesse ran, as it seemed we were back at the house in no time, or I might have passed out along the way.

Dad, Meredith, Harry and Nicola came rushing outside, and they took me out of Jesse's arms.

That's when I lost conciousness.


	6. The Ambulance

_**6. THE AMBULANCE**_

I woke up in the back of the ambulance about fifteen minutes later.

At first, every thing was blurry, but then my eyes adjusted to the bright light.

Standing over me was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Hi, I'm Linda Young." she said,and I knew it must have been Knox's Mom, as they had the same last name. She began to stroke my hair, and for a moment I thought I might fall back into darkness, but I didnt.

"Knox." I replied quiet, and she nodded.

I didnt remember much about what happened, and I played the scene over and over again in my head until I remembered a important piece of the puzzle.

I sat up quickly, but not so easily, and turned to Linda.

"Where's Sadie? Is she alright?" I asked, even though my sides were aching.

She laughed to herself and pushed me back down, with me offering no resistance it was easy, and answered my question.  
"She's fine, it wasnt poisonous, if that's what your talking about."

I think I had never felt so relieved in my life.

I would have felt guilty until my dying day if she hadve...died.

"Sure as hell looked poisonous." I commented. She forced a smile and turned away to do something else.

I continued to lay in the stretcher until the silence got to weird, and I tried to make a conversation.

"So, um...do you...what's wrong with me?" I stuttered.

"You're arms broken, love, and you've got some broken ribs and maybe a concussion." she replied, with facing me.

"Oh, right. Thought I heard a snap when I fell." I said, trying to keep it going. I heard her laugh slightly.

"Probably," she replied. "you been horse riding before?"

"Surprisingly, no. I was shit sca-, sorry, really scared of horses when I was younger. You?" I asked.

"Few times. Not a big fan of them myself. My husband got kicked in the head by one about a year ago, and he died." she stated.

I automatically regretted asking my question at that point, as it was something she was probably trying to forget about.

Then I thought about school, and why Evan hadnt mention anything about it.

She must of thought it was rude to say something like that right in front of Knox, but he didnt appear to be listening to me.

"Knox seems like a quiet kid." I commented, trying to steer away from the whol dead father issue.

"I know, but he wasnt always like this, he used to be more outgoing, but still quite content. The thing is, he was actually _there _when it happened, and because they were in the middle of nowhere, he felt guilty 'cause he couldnt get him to help. So he's blamed himself ever since." she replied, and I almost moaned.

I shouldve thought that the reason Knox was so quite was because his father had died, and I immediatley shout my mouth.

There was an awkward silence or a moment as I pondered over all the negative thoughts that had going on in my mind. And I'm sure Linda was probably thinking of her husband and his death, as she had a sad look on her face, and she was staring up at the ceiling.

"Has anyone ever told you how much you look like your Mom? It's like seeing a ghost, kind of freaky." she blurted out.

"Yeah, everyone says that. You shouldve seen what happened when I walked into the supermarket." I laughed. She smiled, and I hoped those memories of her dead husband werent about to float back into her mind.

"So _how_ do I actually look like her?" I asked, definitley sticking on a topic that couldnt relate to her husband. She looked at me for a long hard moment.

"It's not just you hair and your eyes, but it's the way you talk and all the little details. Like your noses are _identical_, and the way you purse your lips, your smile...just everything. Hasnt your Dad ever told you any of this stuff before?" she asked.

It took me a long, hard moment to answer. "No." I answered plainly.

Linda frowned, and then looked at the side of the truck for moment.

"We're here." she informed me, and then got up and opened the double doors just as we came to a stop.

Keys's little hospital, or medical centre as they call it, was situated directly behind the supermarket, and was always to busy for my liking.

I'd been here a couple of times before, like when Dad got attacked by a bull or when I hit myself with a racket learning to play tennis and had to get stitches.

As the doors flung opened and Linda stepped out to talk to a male paramedic, I was able to have a quick look outside.

I saw Dad's Jeep pull up behind the ambulance, and he, Sadie, Nicola and Meredith all spilled out of the car and ran towards me.

Dad jumped into the back of the truck and grabbed my hand.

"How you feeling?" he asked quickly, a panicked expression on his face.

"I'm fine, really. Mrs Young's nice." I added. He smiled lightly, and then left to talk to Linda.

Sadie and Nicola came and kneeled beside me, while Meredith joined in the conversation with Dad and Linda.

"Sadie are you alright?" I demanded worrily. She laughed and rubbed her neck.

"I'm fine, really. I'll probably have some wicked scars though, it'll look like a vampire bit me." she replied.

"Cool." I added, then turned my attention to Nicola, with a sly look on my face.

"So...Nicola...how'd you like my uncle Harry?" I asked. She blushed and turned away for a moment.

"He's nice. Why do you ask?" she demanded, trying to play it cool.

I tried to prop myself up on my elbows, but that just caused severe pain all over, and I moaned loudly.

Linda and her male paramedic must of heard, as they ended their conversation with Dad and focused their attention on getting me inside.

Sadie and Nicola had to move, and Linda and the male paramedic wheeled me out of the ambulance and into the hospital.


	7. The Meeting

_**Hi! I hope you like the story so far. I was planning on only uploading one chapter each night but chapter one was so short and I couldn't help myself.**_

_**Plse Review!**_

_**2. ARRIVED**_

After Aunt Janiece's half an hour long goodbye and listening to Dad saying "We need to go" a thousand times, we finally left Saints Beach, and began the tiring journey to Kansas.

Dad was silent most of the time, yet that was because I was non-stop talking about everything he had missed since the last time I had seen him, which was two years ago.

I didnt feel rude shooting my mouth off, because Dad had ordered me to inform him of what was going on in my life everytime that I had seen him since I was ten. So I was basically _reporting _to him, giving him all the goss and what not.

I knew he didnt really care about half of it, like how we almost set Gina Downey's hair on fire when we were straightening it, but I guess he felt guilty for not being in my life, and knowing that I _loved _to talk, thought this was a good way to make up for not being there.

It took me three hours to get what I had to say out of my talkative mouth, and when was done, I asked my routine question.

"So what's been up with you?" I asked, not entirely curious or interested.

He took a breath, so I knew something was up. Now I _was _curious.

"Well, I got a promotion." he began. My face lit up, I loved it when good things happened to him, he had had a hard life so far.

"That's awesome," I chirped, feeling like such a teenager. "so what are you doing now?" I asked eagerly, changing my position so I faced towards him more.  
He seemed overly pleased and a tad surprised by my reaction, and realized it was his turn to let the words run wild.

"Well," he started. "you know how I used to be Manager of the Linklater Farm?"

"Yes." I lied, I had thought he was just Head Rancher or something, not Manager.

My Dad's family, the Linklater's, owned a big cattle ranch outside of town, and employed thirty something workers.

Everyone in Keys County, wheat, fruit, cattle, pig and other sought's of farmers all sold their supplies to a large company called 'The United Farmers Distrubution Company', but we just called it The Company, who then distrubuted all the goods where they needed to go.

Anyway, they had a office at Keys, as Keys County was mainly a farming area where all the farmers sold their goods to The Company.

"Just the other week I was approached by The Company and they wanted me to be the Keys County Manager! And of course I said yes, so your Uncle Harry took over the Ranch, and your cousin Jesse is Head Rancher now. But in my opinion, he's way too young, but then again I was Head Rancher when _I _was eighteen..." he said, starting to get off track.

"Well that's great Dad, I'm proud of you." I quickly stated, before he could go any further.

He smiled warmly, he loved someone being proud of him, seeings though he's parents were both dead and the love of his life, my Mom, had died as well.

"Your Mom would be too." he whispered to himself, but I heard it.

"She would?" I asked eagerly, not knowing when the rarely talked subject about my Mom was going to be brought up again.

He looked out the window for a moment, then back to me.

"What wife wouldnt be proud of a husband who got a promotion?" he explained, a sad look on his face.

I nodded slowly, deep in thought.

Although my parents had never actually tied the knot, he always referred to her as 'my wife', which strangely made me uncomfortable.

I knew he had never got over my Mom, and he had lived alone in the same house ever since, which probably only made it more painful.

I had no pictures of my Mom, but whenever I had visited Keys, random strangers would tell me how much I looked like her.

It was probably true though, as I looked nothing like my black haired, green eyed, scruffing looking father.

_I _had dark brown eyes and honey colored hair. My hair was straight, like if straight hair could kill the population of the world would be reduced to zero straight, and was parted in the middle.

However, I always wore it up in a high pony tail for sport reasons and to avoid being called a hippy, as my hair almost reached my waist.

The only thing I had in common with my father was that I was really tall.

I was the third tallest girl in my grade back at Saints Beach High, which had over two hundred students in Grade 10, so I was quite tall.

This year I was in Grade 11, and I was turning seventeen on the 4th of July, a date in which my Dad was proud of.

"You dye your hair Amber?" Dad asked as we entered Keys County.

"Oh, um...no, I didnt. Just havent been getting much sun during the winter. Looks mid brown now instead of light brown, doesnt it? I'm not sure if I like it." I replied, feeling myself beginning to babble again.

"Doesnt look like your Mom's much when it's that color" Dad commented dryly, shutting me up.

We were half an hour away from Keys now, and my hair was scruffed up from falling asleep against the window, so I climbed into the back and brushed my hair and quickly put some make up on.

When I scrambled into the front seat again, a quick glance at my Dad told me something was wrong.

He was frowning deeply, squinting his eyes, and he was almost hyperventalating.

"Dad what's wrong?" I asked quickly, putting my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

After a moment his face went back to normal, but I could still see pain in his eyes.

I decided not to ask any further, so I resumed straightening my clothes and gathering my stuff off the dashboard.

We drove past lots of farms and I waved at the workers, whom I felt deeply sorry for, as they were working in the unbearable heat.

I saw a sign which said _ten minutes 'til Keys!_ and started feeling anxious.

"When your Mom and I were driving up to her folks place in the City to tell them she was...pregnant...we were getting close, so she did what you just did: jumped into the back and cleaned herself up. I'm sorry I scared you like that, I totally forgot about that whole trip..." he explained suddenly.

I was taken aback at first, not really knowing what to say, or if I should say anything at all.

"Oh." I croaked, and then we fell into a tense silence as the entrance to the Linklater Ranch came into view.

But Dad didnt turn into the driveway, he just kept driving along the road that led to Keys.

I didnt say anything, because I thought that he might be going to the shops or something, so we continued to sit in silence.

I watched the country roll by: the hills in the distance, the cattle grazing sluggishly in the paddocks, the yellow color of the wheat fields, and I found myself feeling quite sad.

Keys was a fairly strange county, and was divided into two 'enemies', the townies and the farmers.

The farmers usually caused a stir, as they had some sought of grudge against the townies.

About four years ago there was the Keys riots, where the farmers tried to get the townies to move away by burning their houses and running a mess, but it didnt work.

That was all ended thanks to my Aunt Meredith, my dad's twin sister and my cousin Jesse's Mom, who was the Sheriff...and still is.

That's when I had stopped visiting Dad, so I hadnt been to Keys in four years.

I was anxious to see if anything had changed, if the town had grown, if it was still full of hicks and rednecks and hopefully, if there was more shops around.

Dad slowed down as we approached the Keys Intersection, and we turned right along the main road, in the opposite direction of the supermarket.

To my disappointment, Keys hadnt changed much. There were a lot more improvements, but other than that, there was only a few more shops and a couple of new houses.

Keys wasnt an attractive looking town, as there wasnt any green trees or vegetation left from the what seemed constant drought. Most of the houses were just plain brick with the exception of a few rendered houses, but other than that there wasnt anything that caught my eye.

The trees were bare, the grass was yellow, and the only place where there was a vast amount of water was at the Keys Lake, which was about a five minute drive out of town, but that water was brown and muddy.

It was a good place to do a whole lot of nothing except tan, let's say that.

We continued to drive east along the main road until we got to what looked a new estate called 'Golden Gates Estate'.

I was now deeply confused about why we were here, when Dad lived at the Ranch with his younger brother Harry and his nephew, my cousin, Jesse.

I still didnt say anything, as I was lookng at the new houses that seemed to look extravagant compared to the small brick houses back in the central part of town.

These houses were _all _sandstone brick houses that had red roofs on top.

They all looked quite similar, but some even had _green _grass on their lawns.

Dad drove along the new section of main road until he got to the last left turn available, Rockford Road, and turned into the new house lined street.

He got up about halfway up the street when he turned right into number fifty four, another brand new house which looked almost exactly the same as the ones beside it.

He stopped the car in the driveway, which was on the right side of the lawn.

Ahead of us was a double garage with a big roller door, and above that, on the second storey, was a large window with bright red curtains.

Thinking Dad was visiting a friend, I remained in the car and stared at the beautiful house.

There was a small path that left from the driveway to the huge front door, which was a creme color.

Dad walked around to my door and opened it, obviously expecting me to get out.

"So who lives here?" I asked, slamming the door a bit to hard behind me. Dad laughed, but I didnt find it that amusing.

"We do honey." he replied as he opened the trunk and started unloading my many suitcases.

I squeled in excitement and accidently tripped over my suitcase.

"No way!" I screamed, getting up and jumping around joyfully.

Dad's face went completely red as an old couple living to our right stared distastefully towards us.

"Sorry!" I called, and reduced my jumping and squeling to a minimum level.

"You like it?" Dad asked. I lept into his arms.

"Yes!" I approved, hugging him around the neck, until my weight became a bit of a problem for him.

"The Company gave me the new car, house and job...good deal I'd say." Dad commented, handing me the keys so I could open the door and allow him to drag my stuff inside.

"Shit yeah." I said, then regretted it quite quickly. Dad shot me a mad look, but said nothing, as it was true.

I skipped to the front door, careful not to step on the beautiful green grass, and opened the large creme door.

I immediatley smelt bleach or some cleaning product like that, and knew that Dad had made an attempt to clean the house before he left to get me.

The fall was completely tiled with faded orange tiles, except in the lounge room to my right, which had creme carpet.

To my left was the kitchen, which was large and had cedar benches, and then I turned right into the dining area, which had a large cedar dining set.

Beyond that was a large glass sliding door that led onto a patio and then into the backyard, which I could see also had lucious green grass.

I skipped back around to the lounge room and, like the kitchen, led onto another space, which Dad had set up as an office or something.

I ran excitedly back to the front door to help Dad carry my stuff upstairs, which was directly in front of the door.

We walked up the carpeted stairs into a tiled hallway.

At the left end of the hallway was Dad's room, which had an ensuite and a walk in wardrobe.

Next to that was another study, and then a large bathroom with a spa.

On the right of the bathroom was a small laundry, and at the right end of hallway was my room, which had a small walk in wardrobe.

It was painted bright red with white trimmings, and I realised it was the room above the garage.

Dad had bought me a new silver metal double bed, red sheets and blankets, a new bedside table and a cedar desk and vanity table with a large mirror.

"Oh...my...god." was all I managed to squek out of my overwhelmed body.

Dad shrugged past me and rested my bags down on the bottom of my bed.

"You like? I hope you still like red." Dad commented plainly. I dropped the bags at my side and ran into Dad's arms once again. This time I hugged him for a long and meaningful time, quite tightly too.

"Is that a yes?" he guessed, patting my back warmly. I pulled away from him and took in the sight of my _perfect _room.

"Yes! I love it Dad, it's perfect. I love you." I replied, and pecked him on the cheek.

He cleared his throat.

"Yeah, well...I got you got you one of them laptops as well, and a cordless phone. They're in your cupboard. I'll go and get the rest of your gear." he informed me awkwardly.

I almost collapsed right there and then.

My own laptop? My own phone?!

Back at Aunt Janiece's house my room was previously a study, and I had never had any of these comforts there.

Maybe I wouldnt regret moving to Keys after all.

I raced to my cupboard, pulling it open carelessly to find a Mac Air (a thin white laptop), and a matching white cordless phone, sitting on one of the bare shelves.

Also, there were a hundred dollar each SportsPower and VanityGirl gift vouchers sitting on top of the laptop box.

I screamed so loud that I think I broke the decimal limit.

From outside, Dad must of thought there was something wrong, so he raced back up into my room, to find me jumping around like a kangaroo.

He got surprisingly mad at me for screaming like I did, but honestly, I dont think I was loud enough.

He explained the vouchers, beautiful room, laptop and phone by saying it was 'his way of repaying me for having to wait for him to grow up'.

He then said that he had a few work related things to do at his office, and left me to unpack, leaving behind a hundred and fifty dollars so I could ride to shops when it got lighter (as it was only eight thirty in the morning) and buy anything I needed.

It only took me half an hour to unpack and when I was done, I walked slowly around my new house, feeling not at all anxious anymore.

I sat down on the brand new sofa, and almost instantly fell asleep.

I dreamt of the new house, and some other whacky stuff, but nothing out of the usual dreams.

When I woke, it was intensly hot. After a quick glance at my watch, I realized it was exactly midday.

I trudged slowly up to my room and pulled on some denim short shorts and a white singlet, then headed to the garage to collect my bike, which was also brand new.

I grabbed my wallet and my phone and somehow managed to fit them into the pockets of my short shorts, and snatched the keys of a hook near the front door.

After I had the house locked up I skipped into the garage and climbed onto my bike, and rode out into the blistering sun.

It was a nice day, but days like this in Kansas could get a bit to hot, and most of the people I saw walking on the Golden Gates Estate pathways were already sunburnt.

Riding was one of my favourite things to do, and I rode quite fast, so it only took me half an hour to get to the shops.

I ditched my bike in the bike rack and walked into the cool air conditioned supermarket and immediatley felt like I was in a hospital.

The walls, floor and everything else was white, and their were large florescent lights lighting up the empty isles.

I pulled out a piece of paper that I had shoved in my pocket that had a list of things to buy scribbled on it.

I weaved my way slowly through the isles, grabbing anything that I thought I would nead, which included a ten pack of Gatorade, a sports magazine, that time of the month essentials, toiletries and more hairties, along with a hundred dollars worth of _healthy _food.

I waited patiently as the lady at the check out beeped all my items rather slowly.

I was flipping through a couple of magazines and texting my best friend Emma back in Saints Beach when I noticed that everyone was staring at me.

I put my phone back in my pocket and turned to the check out lady.

"Hey, excuse me? What are they staring at?" I asked, gesturing towards the shop full of people glaring at me.

"This might sound stupid, but they think you're a ghost." she answered shyly. My jaw dropped. A ghost?

"Um...why?" I questioned curiously, leaning on the counter.

"Well, you just look so much like your mother. Not everyone knew she had a daughter." she replied, starting to pick up her pace.

"Oh...right." I commented to myself. I didnt like all this attention, and I began wondering if I shouldve dressed more formally. After a few more moments of being intensly stared at, I snapped.

"Look I'm her god damn daughter, alright? Now stop staring at me!" I shouted into the direction of the isles.

I heard a few remarks, and then people continued their shopping.

"Er...ma'am? That comes to a total of one hundred and twenty three dollars." the check out lady told me cautiously. I paid the bill then grabbed the trolley and took it outside, and then realized my problem.

I had a trolley full of bags and I was riding a bag, great.

Remembering Dad's office was nearby, I pushed the trolley roughly across the road, without looking where I was walking.

I must have walked into oncoming traffic, as I heard a screech and I turned to see a big black 4WD blaring it's horn at me. My heart skipped a couple of beats, but I continued to push the trolley across the wide road towards the United Farmers Distrubtion Union Keys Centre.

I ditched the trolley outside and pushed my way through the glass double doors.

There was a young lady sitting at a desk in a bare room.

"Hi, how are you?" she asked pleasantly. I smiled and shoved my hands in my pockets.

"Good thanks. I'm looking for my Dad, Mr. Linklater?" I asked, getting to the point.

"Sure, Amber, go right in." she replied, gesturing towards a wooden door in the top right hand corner of the room. I flashed her a quick smile before entering my Dad's messy office.

I cant really describe what his office looked like right now, because it was all covered by tons of paper.

Dad was sitting with a client or something at his desk, and they both looked up when I entered.

"Hi, sorry Dad, but I need to borrow your car to get the groceries home." I told him immediatley.

"Sure honey," he replied, throwing me the keys. "this is one of the United Farmers Union Representitives, Mr. Whitlam."

We awkwardly said hi to each other, and then I said goodbye almost straight away.

I left the building, saying goodbye to the lady, named Stephanie, and drove the groceries and my bike home.

After unloading all of the shopping, I made myself a sandwich and sat down to watch the Red Sox versus the Yankees.

I woke up at about five in the morning, still on the couch, but with a blanket on top of me.

I could hear Dad snoring loudly upstairs and, feeling rather energetic, decided to go for a jog.

I crept up the stairs quietly and pulled on my jogging outfit and my shoes, then headed outside, where it was chilly.

Jogging was my way of clearing my head, it was my alone time.

I didnt think about much though, and I ran for quite some time before I realized I was almost at the other end of town. I saw a sign that read 'Lake Keys 5 miles', and decided that would be my destination.

It was a boring walk to Lake Keys.

In the space between where the town ended and the bare forest began was nothing expect for a downward hill.

Nothing besides overgrown grass and a dirt road that seemed to go on forever.

When I finally reached the start of the leaveless tree forest, I slowed to a walk, and felt myself feeling a bit scared, as if someone was watching me.

I was only a two minute walk through the bare trees before I reached the brown Lake Keys.

It looked different than the last time I had seen it.

There was actually some green grass on the west and north side of the lake, and the fifty metres high cliff on the west side now had picnic tables and a railing on the top.

To my surprise, there was already a few people fishing on the lake and sitting at the picnic tables.

I glanced at my watch, and to my shock saw that it was already eight o'clock.

I walked to the edge of the water and splashed some water on my face.

Upon returning back to where I had been standing, I slipped on the mud and landed face down.

The worst part was that my nose had hit a slightly exposed rock, and was now gushing blood.

I picked myself up slowly, and clutched my nose in pain.

A few people had seen me fall from the cliff top, and were now running towards me.

In the lead was a tall, tan black haired woman, holding a handkerchief, thank god.

Behind her was a replica, but slightly taller.

A few metres behind the replica was a not as tan girl and shorter girl.

When they got to me, they appeared to be laughing.

"Hi, there! Took quite a fall didnt you?" the older lady laughed, handing me the handkerchief which I gladly accepted.

"Don't my her, that's my Mom, Burnie Browning. I'm Tiffany, and this is my 'lil sister Ruth." the taller girl said, gesturing towards her Mom and sister.

"You must be Amber then?" Burnie asked suddenly. Tiffany glared at her mother.

"Um..yeah I am. Di you know er?" I replied, struggling to talk with blood gushing into my mouth.

"Yeah she was _my _little sisters best friend in high school before she..."Burnie started, but was unable to finish.

"Die? I swear everywon in this town nu who she was." I said, picking up the converstation again.

"Yeah, and every boy was in love with her." Burnie added. I laughed, but then choked on my own blood.

"Look, I better go. Thanks." I said, not knowing whether to give her the blood soaked handkerchief back or not.

"We were just packing up, so you could get a ride into town with us. Where do you live?" Tiffany suggested.

"Rockford Road." I answered as the blood flow from my nose ceased. They all laughed, these people were crazy.

"Seriously though where do you live?" Tiffany repeated.

"Fifty four Rockford Road, the last street in Golden Gates Estate." I replied.

The smiles faded from their faces while they took in the information.  
"Oh...right. We live in Parker Street, the first one in Golden Gates." Burnie implicated after a moment.

They escorted me to the carpark, where I waited in their blue station wagon while they packed up their gear.

At first the drive was silent, awkward. But once Burnie opened her mouth, she didnt shut it until the end of the car ride.  
"So when did you get here?" Burnie asked, starting the first round of questions.

"Yesterday morning." I replied.

"Getting settled in alright?" she questioned, and I knew this would lead to many more questions.

"Um...yeah I guess."

"Where did you live before?"

"Saints Beach, California."

"Who'd you live with?"

"My great aunt."

"Oh yeah. Did you like living there?" she continued to asked, and I was beginning to feel like I was being interrogated.

"Loved it."

"So why'd you move back here?"

"Well my aunt had a heart attack and I'd promised Dad I'd move back in with him one day, so...yeah."  
"Aw that's to bad. Why didnt you live with your Dad in the first place?"

"Well he couldnt cope to well when my Mom died, and all his brothers and stuff were to young to really help out so my aunt offered." I answered, now beginning to feel breathless.

"I think that's enough for now Mom." Tiffany pointed out, and I felt immensly relieved.

"Oh whatever honey." Burnie laughed, focusing more clearly on the road now.

Tiffany turned around to face me.

"Sorry about that. You probably felt like you were being...interrogated." she said slyly. I frowned, it was like she had known what I was thinking.

"It's okay." I lied. Tiffany winked at me before turning around and reving up the volume on the stereo.

I then realized that ever since I had met the Browning family, Ruth had not said a word.

I risked a quick glance at her, and luckily she was staring sadly out the window.

She must of noticed me looking at her, for she returned the gaze with a pleasant smile.

I smiled and then turned to face out the window. A few moments later, Burnie's voice broke the silence.

"You alright Ruth?" she asked, looking at her daughter through the rear vision mirror.

"Yeah Mom, it's fine." Ruth replied, and I immediatly felt aware that they were referring to something private.

I glanced out the window and noticed that Burnie had turned into my street already.

She drove along until we reached the driveway, where she pulled in with sharp turn that made me collide with Ruth.

She cut the engine and we sat in silnce for a moment. I was deciding whether or not I should invite them in or not, but then Dad burst through the door and walked over to Burnie's window, which she rolled down.

"Hello, Burnie," he began, then after glancing at me and my dried bloody nose said,"what happened?".

"Well I went for a jog to the lake, and then fell on a rock...then Burnie, Tiffany and Ruth helped me home." I explained quickly, so Burnie wouldnt ramble on about my klutzy fall.

"Oh, well...thank you Burnie." Dad stated, looking more relaxed now. Burnie smiled.

"Yeah, thanks for helping me. At least now my clothes arent stained with blood." I joked, and began to climb out of the car, but Ruth grabbed my elbow.

"Dont run up and down the stairs...you could fall. I'll see you at school okay? Meet you at the office at eight forty five." she informed me strangly.

I thanked her ad got out of the car, then waited with Dad while they drove away.

"Fell on a rock, aye?" Dad commented slyly as they turned around the corner.

"Shutup." I replied, then trudged back inside.

I was still confused about what Ruth had meant by not running up and down the stairs, which I wasnt planning to do.

But I merely pushed the comment aside and focused on the main thing: I now had someone _normal_ to hang out with at school, and Ruth seemed like a nice girl.

It was Sunday today, and I was mildly excited and nervous about my first day of school tomorrow.

The high school at Keys was actually quite large, with around five hundred students that attended it.

As it was the only high school for a hundred miles, the townies and the farmers children both had to attend it, so I guessed that there would be lots of fights and stuff, but that happened at any high school.

The High school was located at the very edge of town, near where I had walked this morning.

Now that I thought of it, the large space of bare downward land which I had seen had probably been the high's schools oval.

Unlike other American high schools, Keys District High School was not one large building, but about a dozen house sized white brick buildings with dark red roofs.

Dad had all of my school stuff lying in the study area near the lounge room, so I went and rummaged through it.

There was small information booklet, six brand new red books with a matching red folder and a red pencil case, and my timetable.

I was doing English, Drama, Sport Studies, Advanced Maths, German and Physics.

While I was preparing all my stuff for tomorrow, there was a knock at the door, so I raced down to open it.

Standing on the other side was a beautiful lady with mid brown hair done up in a bun and hazel eyes with long black eyelashes.

"Oh hello, you must be Amber." she greeted with a pleasant smile.

"Er...yeah." I replied awkwardly, amazed by her beauty. She stepped in closer, so I allowed her inside.

"I'm Nicola, your Dad's...House Assistant." she explained, and I relaxed.

"House Assistant?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"Yes, I cook, clean, all that stuff. I come every day at four in the afternoon besides Saturdays." she explained further. I nodded, and she went straight upstairs and grabbed a vacuum out of a small cupboard. I didnt move from where I was standing, as I had nothing to do.

"So is this your only job?" I asked quite nosely, but she didnt seem to mind.

"No," she answered, and paused for a moment. "I'm at this rich family's house all day, taking care of their three kids, cause they work at The Company's main office as Lawyers. At the end of the week, I get like a thousand bucks _after _tax, so it's all good." she babbled. I smiled, she seemed friendly enough.

"Do you like the kids?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, love 'em. Their names are Kiara, Zach and Ashleigh, they're really well behaved so it's not like it's a challenging job or anything. But the parents are ignorant and snobby." Nicola continued.

She said something about having to vacuum, then left the room. Seconds later I heard the unmistakable sound of a vacuum blaring away.

"So you met Nicola then?" I heard Dad ask from the top of the staircase, which startled me.

"Yeah. She's nice. Since when did you need help like that?" I asked, after my heart slowed down.

"Since I moved into this huge house." he answered, toweling his wet hair. I laughed, my Dad had changed _a lot _since I had last seen him.

"You nervous about school?" he asked, grabbing his keys of the hook.

"Not really, I got Ruth to hang out with...so that's something. Where you going?" I asked.

"I need to pick something up from the mechanics, you coming?" he replied. I nodded, and followed him to the car.

Dad drove way to quickly for my liking. I dont think he realized that he didnt need to press down on the gas pedle so hard in this new car.

We arrived at the Mechanics with a slam of his brake, and I jumped out of the car quickly, eager to touch hard ground again.

I followed Dad around to the small office where the man at the desk said "it's ready" and led us around to the back of the shed that the mechanic operated in.

The ugly little man walked over to a bright red two door Honda with a large purple ribbon tied around and opened the door.

"Do you like it?" Dad asked, looking closing at my face to see my reaction. I turned to him, my face full of disbelief.

"WHAT?" I shouted quite fiercly. Dad looked quite pleased with himself.

"Early birthday present." he explained plainly.

I exploded.

I dont want to go into epic detail, but let's just saying there was a lot of hugging, jumping, screaming and "no way!" was shouted a thousand times.

I jumped inside the leather interior car, and put my hands on the steering wheel.

"Holy shit Dad. You're the best." I complemented him. His eyes glistened.

He handed me the keys and I let out another excited squel of excitement.

"Geez Amber, I dont think my ears can much more of your squeling." he complained. I laughed.

"Dad, I dont understand how you could afford this." I said, my tone now becoming confused.

He looked defeated.

"Well The Company actually gave it to me as a bribery offer sort of a thing, because they knew that you would be coming up to live with me and...they said that if I accepted they'd give me the truck...so everybody won." he explained.

"Wow. Cool." was all I could manage to say. This was beyond cool. This was legendary.

Dad and I were starting off really well, and I was beginning to regret not moving back earlier.

But if I had of moved back a year before, things would have been different, they would have been worse.

Dad would have still been in his fourteen year long Great Depression and he wouldve been living on the secluded Ranch with my aunt Meredith, my one year older cousin Jesse, my uncle Harry and Barno, who I had know idea how I was realted to.

Dad allowed me to drive home, and I made it without scratching the car or burning the tires.

I also felt suddenly privelaged when I realized that I had my own car space in the garage.

Keys was _really _growing on me.

I had arrived...and survived.


End file.
